Sabbath Devotional :: Jesus and the Bent Woman

The Gospel of Luke shares an intriguing story in Chapter 13:10-17. For the last recorded time in his ministry, Jesus teaches in the synagogue. Among the listeners is a woman. In that day only men’s presence “counted” for quorums, so there may not have been many women in attendance. This woman is unique not just because she’s in the minority, but because she suffers from an ailment that has curved her spine so severely that for the last 18 years she hasn’t been able to stand up straight “at all.” She constantly faces the ground, the dirt, the trash and debris. She can’t look people in the eye. Imagine how frustrating this must be for her, how painful, how awkward to know that the primary thing people notice about you is that you are “the bent woman.”

Still, despite her limitations, she gets herself to synagogue despite her constant pain and awareness of being seen as ecclesiastically and socially “less than.”

But Jesus sees her. He stops his preaching and calls her to him. Did she appreciate being singled out when she was only too aware of how people either stare at her all the time or dismiss her as unworthy of notice because of her deformity? We only know that this woman immediately makes her difficult way to Jesus. In her condition she can’t look at His face. Perhaps, Jesus crouches down to look at her. He tells her “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”

Jesus puts his hands on her — on her gnarled, twisted back or painful shoulders? On her head bent and low in front of him? We don’t know, but when he touches her, she immediately straightens up and begins to praise God.

The story continues with a verbal tussle Jesus gets in with the leader of the synagogue who tries to shame Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. The scriptural author then focuses on the topic of the insufficiency of Sabbath literalism. As Jesus defends his actions as being for the greater good, He refers to the woman, calling her “a daughter of Abraham” and therefore worthy of being freed from her malady regardless of what day of the week it is.

She is the only person in the entire Bible to be identified that way — as “a daughter of Abraham.” Jesus sees her as a faithful woman and a descendant of Father Abraham — the prophet through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed. She has value. She is a beloved daughter and an inheritor of God’s eternal salvation and His hopeful blessing for the world.

Debating the what’s and how’s of Sabbath observance fascinates me less than the remarkable exchange between Jesus and this woman. How often do I feel burdened with my inadequacies and focus only on the ground and the low disappointments of life? I am cowed by the weight of the twisted impediments of our flawed human society — especially these days. How can I, (one lone, under-informed person), stand upright to fight for the rights of citizens when injustice limits and injures them, for immigrants trapped in draconian policies, for health insurance bills or tax reforms that are products of ossified layers of complex political grappling?

By myself I AM bent, discouraged, unable to look up.

But in this story I can see myself like that woman — as someone recognized by God and called to Him for healing. It allows me to acknowledge that I, too, am known to Him as a beloved one among a multitude of “Daughters of Abraham”, part of a sacred heritage designed by love to bless the world.

I want to be as dedicated as she was, despite her difficulties, to make my way to the Way, and to places where I can learn the Good Word of God — and useful, fact-based and practical strategies and insights. Because of Jesus Christ, I am lifted, from preoccupation with my limitations, to a Divine point of view. He reminds me that whatever I contribute is a welcome part of God’s larger work and glory — not just for the perplexities of our nation at this time, but for Life based on hope, love, faith, and “peace on earth, good will to all.”